Sanskrit
आशापाशशतैर्बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः । ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान् ॥
āśāpāśaśatair baddhāḥ kāmakrodhaparāyaṇāḥ īhante kāmabhogārtham anyāyenārthasañcayān
Translation
Held in bondage by a hundred ties of expectation, given over to lust and anger, they strive to obtain by unlawful means hoards of wealth for sensual enjoyments.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Hope itself becomes a trap in this verse — “bound by a hundred cords of expectation” — which inverts the usual association of hope with freedom or forward motion. Bound to desire and anger, they pursue wealth “anyāyena,” by unjust means, explicitly for sensual consumption; the text is naming an economic vice here, not just a private psychological one, tying acquisitiveness to injustice rather than treating wealth itself as the problem. This is a useful corrective to a common misreading of the Gita as simply anti-wealth — the critique is aimed at the means and the motive, not possession as such.